Jake Chesnut with the Mariposa County fire department puts out hot spots as firefighters continue to battle the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in Foresta, Calif.

Jake Chesnut with the Mariposa County fire department puts out hot spots as firefighters continue to battle the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in Foresta, Calif.

Firefighters David Harer, (left) and Jake Chesnut, with the Mariposa County fire department mop up after two homes were destroyed in the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in Foresta, Calif.

The shell of a car is all that remains where two homes were lost in...

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Visitors to Yosemite National Park observe firefighting helicopters pass by, as firefighters continue to battle the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in El Portal, Calif.

David Harer with the Mariposa County fire department searches for hots spots around the site of two homes that were destroyed during the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in Foresta, Calif.

A firefighting helicopter comes in low to take on water from the Merced River, as firefighters continue to battle the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in El Portal, Calif.

Two firefighting helicopters ferry water back and forth to the fire as firefighters continue to battle the El Portal fire just west of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday July 29, 2014, in El Portal, Calif.

Residents of this tiny town felt a surge of hope Tuesday as firefighters dug in with tractors, hoses and shovels and forced a rampaging 3,060-acre wildfire on the western edge of Yosemite National Park away from their community - for now.

It was clear as the day wore on that the fight that began Saturday when the blaze ignited a few miles east of here was far from over.

The town's 60 or so hilltop homes, graced with distant views of the park's iconic Half Dome and El Capitan, remained in danger as oaks and ponderosa pines smoldered within feet of their doorsteps - and residents were on orders, for a fourth day, to stay out of town.

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But with slightly lower temperatures and lighter winds to fan flames, fire crews managed to steer the blaze away from houses, where chain-sawed trees and red retardant on roofs marked a turning point in the prolonged firefight. Flat expanses of smoking ash spread off in many directions, with scorched trees poking up like blackened light poles, and a gray haze filled the air overhead.

With all of the residents - a mix of year-round folks and vacationers - fled, the only sound was the buzz of firefighting.

The main body of the fire, meanwhile, edged deeper into the park's interior, where officials worried that Big Oak Flat Road, the main artery into Yosemite Valley from the Bay Area, would be the next front for their battle. All day long, tourists and locals gathered on hillsides to watch helicopters dousing flames with water pulled from the Merced River, and they could track the blaze's advance by angry clouds of smoke thrusting into the sky where the fight was fiercest.

"We were just glad we could protect as much of Foresta as we could," said Yosemite Park Superintendent Don Neubacher.

Two homes here didn't survive.

Couple's lunch cut short

On Saturday, shortly after the fire began, Olotumi Laizer returned to his house after a long drive to Manteca, where he had picked up lunch at Chipotle for his wife, Kim. The two were eating when a neighbor came knocking on their door.

"I ran and looked out and saw a big fire coming," Olotumi said. "I told my wife we had to get out. We didn't have but five minutes."

The couple drove off as quickly as they could, surrendering most of their belongings to flames.

"I don't know that there was any way anyone could have gotten there," Kim Laizer said.

Their hasty exit came as firefighters arrived in force, dropping water and retardant from as many as eight helicopters and nine planes and digging lines with hoes, axes and bulldozers.

The fire grew quickly amid dense brush and timber parched by three years of drought. But by Tuesday morning, firefighters appeared to have gotten a handle on the blaze - or at least its southern end near Foresta. Overall, they estimated containment at 19 percent.

On Tuesday afternoon, a team of firefighters watered down what remained of the Laizers' home: a pile of mostly burned-up scrap metal.

A cracked ceramic portrait of a woman's face with bear paws around her neck was one of the few recognizable items amid the debris. A charred truck sat in the ash with its tires melted.

While the Foresta fight wound down, fire crews on the blaze's other fronts focused on the canyons beneath Big Oak Flat Road. Firefighters were hoping to stop the blaze before it reached the major thoroughfare, which connects Highway 120 to Yosemite Valley.

The famed Merced Grove of giant sequoias was also at risk, officials said, though it remained a few miles from the burn.

"Our hope is that we can cut the fire off before getting to the grove," said Carlton Joseph, incident commander for the fire. "It needs to be protected."

Most of Big Oak Flat Road remained closed because of the fire, as did campgrounds at Crane Flat, Bridalveil Creek and Yosemite Creek. Yosemite Valley could still be reached via Highway 140 and Highway 120 stayed open through the mountains, but visitors to the area were being told to expect poor visibility.

Scars from past fires

Foresta and nearby Old El Portal have been savaged by fire before.

Many of the surrounding hills are treeless, with snags that remain from a 1990 fire that wiped out several structures and spread across 17,000 acres. Again in 2009, a 7,000-acre blaze spread dangerously close to homes.

The latest fire, coined the El Portal Fire, burned what was left over from past infernos.

"We've been through this before," said Janaki Patel, who was allowed to return to her house in Old El Portal on Tuesday morning after being forced to evacuate for three days. "It's part of living here. We take that risk. It's the most beautiful place."

One hundred miles away in thickly forested canyons east of Sacramento, another wildfire that had forced evacuations over the weekend was well in hand Tuesday.

The wind-whipped Sand Fire, which broke out Friday and burned in Amador and El Dorado counties, was 80 percent contained after blackening 3,800 acres. All but a handful of the 1,200 evacuees were let back into their homes in the morning - though for many, the news was not good. The blaze destroyed 19 homes and 47 outbuildings.

"Things have dramatically improved," said Chris Anthony, an assistant chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "We got some real help from the weather."

The other major fire burning this week in the Sierra is the French Fire, a 2,000-acre blaze chewing through trees and rugged campgrounds in the Sierra National Forest nearly 100 miles southeast of Yosemite. It broke out Monday and was uncontained.